HARRISBURG (AP) – Republicans are going to court in PA amid vote counting in the U.S. Senate election between Democrat Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick, with the contest headed toward a state-mandated recount. The Associated Press called the race for McCormick last week, concluding that not enough ballots remained to be counted in areas Casey was winning for him to take the lead. As of Thursday, McCormick led by about 24,000 votes out of more than 6.9 million ballots counted. The lawsuits filed ask courts not to allow counties to count mail-in ballots where the voter didn’t write a date on the return envelope or wrote an incorrect date. Meanwhile, both Casey and McCormick were in Washington, DC this week. Casey was attending official Senate sessions and casting floor votes while McCormick attended Senate orientation and caucus meetings.